Spectral enhancing method and device

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a spectral enhancement method and to an apparatus carrying out this method. The method of the invention enhanced the spectral content of a signal having an incomplete spectrum including a first spectral frequency band, the method comprising the following stages:  
     at least one spectral content transposition of said first frequency band into a second spectral frequency band not included in said spectrum for the purpose of generating a transposed spectrum signal having a spectrum limited to said second spectral frequency band,  
     shaping the spectrum of the transposed spectrum signal for the purpose of producing an enhanced signal,  
     combining an incomplete spectrum signal and the enhanced signal for the purpose of producing an enhanced spectrum signal, characterized in that said spectral content is subject to a stage of whitening.

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and to apparatus spectrally enhancing a signal having an incomplete spectrum. More specifically, the present invention is applicable to improved decoding an audio signal which was encoded by a limiting spectral frequency band encoder.

[0002] As regards rate-reduction audio encoding, the audio signal often must undergo a bandpass limitation when the bit rate becomes low. This bandpass restriction is necessary to preclude introducing audible quantizing noise into the encoded signal. In such a case the high-frequency content of the original signal should be regenerated to the extent possible.

[0003] It is known from the state of the art, and in particular from the patent document WO 9,857,436 A, to regenerate the high-frequency special content of the original signal by harmonically transposing the low-frequency spectrum of the decoded signal toward the high frequencies. This transposition is carried out by recopying the spectral value of a fundamental fk at all frequencies of the harmonic series n*fk. The shape of the high-frequency spectrum so developed is adjusted by applying spectral weighting factors.

[0004]FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the spectral reconstruction apparatus of the state of the art. The encoded audio signal is decoded by a decoder 101 that applies a low-frequency spectrum signal S_(B) to a bank 102 of analyzing filters, the outputs k of these filters being connected to the inputs of harmonic orders n*k (n=1....N) of a set of synthesizing filters 104 after having been weighted by spectral weighting factors 103. For simplicity, the decimators at the output of the analyzing filter bank (respectively the interpolations of the synthesizing filter bench) were omitted.

[0005] The synthesized signal S_(H) exhibits a high frequency spectrum. It is added to the signal S_(B) by a summer 105 to generate a reconstructed wideband signal S_(R).

[0006] The above cited reconstruction technique is based on a sub-band analysis and on a complex harmonic duplication. It entails computationally expensive methods for adjusting phase and amplitude. Moreover the spectral weighting factors only coarsely model the spectral envelope.

[0007] In general and outside any decoding context, it is important that it be feasible to enhance the spectral content of a physical signal exhibiting an incomplete spectrum. The term “incomplete spectrum” denotes any spectrum with limited support or any spectrum exhibiting “holes”. Such is the case in particular as regards an audio signal or a speech signal with limited bandpass: spectral enhancement then shall substantially improve sound quality and signal intelligibility.

[0008] The basic problem of the present invention is to create a spectral reconstruction apparatus and more generally a spectral enhancement apparatus of high performance and substantial simplicity.

[0009] A subsidiary problem based on one embodiment mode of the present invention is to attain a reconstructed special shape of this signal which shall be both more accurate and simpler than can be found in the state of the art.

[0010] The basic problem of the present invention is resolved by the claimed method of claim 1 and by the apparatus claimed in claim 20.

[0011] The above cited features of the present invention as well as further ones are elucidated in the following description of an illustrative embodiment mode and in relation to the attached drawings.

[0012]FIG. 1 schematically shows a spectral reconstruction apparatus for an audio signal, of the state of the art,

[0013]FIG. 2 schematically shows a spectral enhancement apparatus of one embodiment of the present invention,

[0014]FIGS. 3a, 3 b show a spectral transposition module for use in an implementing mode of the invention,

[0015]FIG. 4 schematically illustrates the spectral enhancement method of an implementing mode of the invention, and

[0016]FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a system of the invention comprising an encoder and decoder with spectral enhancement apparatus.

[0017] Again the case of spectrally enhanceing a signal S_(B) having an incomplete spectrum and in particular a signal of restricted frequency band shall now be considered.

[0018] The present invention avails itself of the fact that assuming certain stationary modes, a signal may be modeled as being the result of filtering an excitation signal using a spectral envelope filter. If there is a description of the spectral envelope of tile signal S_(B,) then its spectrum may be whitened by passing the signal through a whitening filter of which the transfer function is approximately inverse to the envelope function. In this manner the initial excitation signal is approximately produced less the effect of the spectral shape in the frequency band under consideration. Accordingly in the particular case of a speech siginal, the excitation signal shall be rid of its formantic structure. The invention proposes to enhance the spectrum of the signal S_(B) by transposing the whitened spectrum. The resulting signal is a transposed-spectrum signal which must be shaped. This spectral shaping is implemented by a shaping filter of which the transfer function illustratively is extrapolated from the spectral envelope function of the signal S_(B).

[0019]FIG. 2 shows a spectral enhancement apparatus of the invention. The incomplete spectrum signal, which typically is a limited frequency band audio signal (for instance the band is 0-5 kHz) is filtered by a whitening filter 201 of which the transfer function is based on an estimate of the spectral envelope. The spectral envelope estimation is carried out by a module 202 of the enhancement apparatus. In a first embodiment mode of the invention, the spectral envelope estimate is based on analyzing the incomplete spectrum signal. In a second embodiment mode of the invention, the envelope is estimated on the basis of information and available from an external source, for instance a decoder. In both cases the transfer function of the whitening filter is the inverse of the spectral envelope function.

[0020] The whitened spectrum signal S_(w) is subjected to spectral transposition by a transposing module 203. The shifted spectrum signal so attained, which typically is a signal having a spectrum translated toward the high frequencies (5-10 kHz for instance in the case of the above audio signal) next is filtered by a shaping filter 204. In a first embodiment mode, its transfer function is extrapolated from the spectral envelope function of the signal S_(B). According to a second embodiment, the transfer function estimate is based on external information describing the spectral envelope of a full frequency band S_(B). The filters signal S_(E) which shall be termed the special enhancement signal, is added to the limited spectrum signal S_(B) by a summer 205 to generate a spectrally enhanced (or reconstructed) signal S_(R).

[0021] The spectral envelope estimating module 202 for example may model the envelope by an LPC analysis such as is described in the article by J. Makhoul, “Linear Prediction: A Tutorial Review” Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 63, #4, pp 561-580. The signal S is modeled according to an autoregressive model of order P: $S_{n} = {{- {\sum\limits_{k = 1}^{P}\quad {a_{k}s_{n - k}}}} + {Gu}_{n}}$

[0022] where s_(n) is the signal to be modeled, a_(k) are the prediction coefficients (or LPC coefficients), u_(n) is the prediction residue and P is the order of the filter used, that is the number of coefficients of the LPC filter used. G is a normalization gain. This LPC filter models the signal S in the form $\begin{matrix} {{{S(z)} = {G/{A(z)}}},{where}} \\ {{{A(z)} = {\sum\limits_{i = 0}^{p}\quad {a_{i}z^{- 1}}}};{a_{0} = 1.}} \end{matrix}$

[0023] By suitably selecting the order P of the filter (p sufficiently high) and the values of the LPC coefficients, the prediction residue u_(n) may be assumed spectrally white or virtually white. The result of filtering S(z) by means of the filter A(z) being U(z), the filter A(z) also is called a whitening filter. These fitter coefficients are conventional per se (for instance using the Levinson-Durbin algorithm).

[0024] Thereupon the spectral shape is modeled by: ${\hat{S}(w)} = \frac{G^{2}}{{\rho (0)} + {2{\sum\limits_{w}^{P}{{\rho (i)}{\cos ({wi})}}}}}$

[0025] with the following convention: ${{\rho (i)} = {\sum\limits_{i = 1}^{P - 1}\quad {a_{k}a_{k - i}}}};{a_{0} = 1};{0 \leq i \leq {P.}}$

[0026] The coefficients a_(k) may be evaluated directly by LPC-analyzing the limited spectrum of the signal S_(B) or else on the basis of an external information (illustratively by a decoder in the manner described below). This implementingmode is illustrated by the dashed lines 230.

[0027] Again the coefficients a_(k) may be evaluated by LPC analyzing the original full signal frequency band. This shall be the case for instance if the signal S_(B) is produced by frequency band limited encoding: the encoder may feed the LPC coefficients—directly or in their reduced and quantified form—to the enhancement apparatus, the values of the coefficients allowing to recover the spectral shape of the full frequency band spectrum. This implementing mode is shown by the dashed line 220.

[0028] The coefficients are determined on a time carrier which may be selected to better match the local signal stationary states. Accordingly in the case ofa non-stationary signal, the portion of the signal which shall be analyzed is split into homogeneous frames with respect to the spectral content. This homogeneity may be measured directly using spectral analysis by measuring the distance between the spectra estimated on each of the sub-frames and then regrouping the filters of similar zones.

[0029] Obviously too the information describing the spectral envelope may be in a different form than the LPC coefficients, provided said information allow modeling the spectral envelope in the form of a filter. Conceivably this information may be available in the form of vectors of a spectral shapes dictionary: it suffices that then the coefficients of modeling filter may be inferred. The transfer function of the whitening filter is selected as being the inverse of the transfer function of the envelope modeling filter.

[0030] Whitening by the filter 201 may be carried in the time domain as well as in the frequency domain.

[0031] Again the spectral transposition module 203 may operate either in the frequency domain or in the time domain. Transposition may be a mere translation or a more complex operation. If the target frequency band (that is the frequency band of the signal S_(H) ) is adjacent to the initial frequency band (of the signal S_(B)), advantageously a spectral inversion followed by translation shall be employed to avert any spectral discontinuity where the two frequency bands join.

[0032] Transposition is a trivial operation in the frequency domain and therefore shall not be described.

[0033] Transposition also may be carried out in the time domain. If it involves a mere translation, it may be carried out for instance by simply modulating a single sideband at the translation frequency while eliminating the lower sideband. If a spectral inversion with translation in an adjacent frequency band is involved, it may be implemented by modulating the single sideband at twice the junction frequency while eliminating the upper sideband.

[0034] Transposition also may be carried out using a bank of analysis filters and a bank of synthesis filters (for instance a bank of polyphased filters) as shown in FIGS. 3a and 3 b. Translation is carried out thanks to the connection of the analysis filter outputs to the inputs of translated ranks of the inputs of the synthesis filters 3 a and the spectral inversion followed by translation thanks to the connection of the outputs of the analysis filters to the inputs of the inversed orders which then are translated of the inputs of the synthesis filters 3 b.

[0035] Transposition may apply to all or part of the initial frequency band. Several transpositions within the target frequency band to different frequencies may be considered prior to the stage of spectral shaping. Also transposition may take place either after or before spectral whitening shall be conjugated with latter.

[0036] Following transposition in the target frequency band, the signal is shaped by a shaping filter 204. Several implementing modes are feasible.

[0037] In the first place, if the spectral enhancement apparatus receives information about a full frequency band spectral envelope (for instance in the case of a signal emitted by the limited frequency band encoding cited above), this information may be used to estimate the transfer function of the shaping filter. This shall be the case for instance if the LPC coefficients of the full frequency band signal are available. In that case the spectrum of the target frequency band shall assume the shape of the envelope with the frequency band under consideration. This implementing mode is shown by the dashed line 220.

[0038] Next the transfer function may be produced by extrapolating the initial frequency band's spectral envelope. Various extrapolating methods may be considered, in particular any procedure modeling the spectral envelope. In the particular case of the LPC coefficients having been estimated by the module 202 on the basis of the initial frequency band's spectral envelope, advantageously a shaping filter of which the coefficients are the LPC coefficients shall be used.

[0039] If transposition is conjugate with whitening, then whitening filtering and subsequent shaping may be carried out in a single operation by means of a transfer function which equals the product of the respective transfer functions of the whitening filter and of the shaping filter.

[0040]FIG. 4 illustrates the spectral enhancement method of one embodiment mode of the present invention. More specifically, it shows schematically the various signals S_(B), S_(W), S_(H), S_(E), S_(R) for the particular case wherein the incomplete spectrum is restricted a low-frequency band and the target frequency band is the adjacent high-frequency band—this being the typical case of an audio application. Transposition is assumed subsequent to whitening.

[0041]FIG. 4a shows the spectrum of the low-frequency signal S _(B) as well as the spectral envelope of the full frequency band. It is either determined by extrapolating the envelope of the low frequency signal (dashed curve) or an external source of information provides the description of the full frequency band envelope.

[0042]FIG. 4b shows the spectrum of the signal S_(w) after spectral whitening,

[0043]FIG. 4c shows the spectrum of the signal S_(H) following spectral whitening; the selected transposition being a simple translation,

[0044]FIG. 4d shows the spectrum of the signal S_(E) after spectral shaping,

[0045]FIG. 4e shows the spectrum of the spectrally enhanced or reconstructed signal SR,

[0046]FIG. 5 shows a system of the invention comprising a frequency band limiting encoder 510 as well as a decoder 500 associated with a spectral enhancement apparatus already described above.

[0047] Thanks to a spectral estimation module 511, the encoder may offer information describing the spectral envelope of the full frequency band signal. Alternatively it may offer information describing the signal's spectral envelope in one or several frequency bands that are to be shaped. Thereupon this information may be used directly by the spectrally shaping filter as already discussed above. Where called for, the encoder-transmitted information shall be used to correct the transfer function of the whitening filter in a way that the outcome of the whitening-transposition-shaping operation shall optimally reconstitute the spectral signal envelope prior to encoding. This embodiment mode is illustrated by the dashed line 520.

[0048] The decoder offers an incomplete or restricted spectrum signal which accepts spectral enhancement by the above described method. In this instance, rigorously speaking, spectral reconstruction is involved, a portion of the spectrum of the original signal source S having been cut off by encoding. In addition to the incomplete-spectrum decoded signal, the decoder also may by itself offer information relative to the spectral envelope of this signal which is exploitable by the envelope estimating module 502. This embodiment mode is shown by the dashed line 530. If the decoder only offers the incomplete-spectrum, decoded signal, the spectral envelope shall be estimated on the basis of the latter signal.

[0049] A representative application of the system of the invention is to spectrally reconstruct an audio signal encoded by a perceptive encoder. The audio encoder may be the rate-reducing transform kind (for instance MPEG1, MPEG2 or MPEG4-GA) or the type CELP (ITU G72X) or even parametric (parametric MPEG4 type).

[0050] For a given transmitted rate, the perceived sound quality shall be improved, the sound becoming “clearer”. Alternatively the rate may be lowered at equivalent quality. The following is an illustrative configuration: transmitting an encoded signal at 24 kbit/s with addition of 2 kbit/s of high frequency spectral information, the quality of the 26 kbit/s signal so produced is equivalent to that of an approximately 64 kbit/s in the absence of the apparatus of the invention.

[0051] The applications of the invention are manifold and are not restricted to the spectral reconstruction of audio signals. The invention is able to reconstruct an arbitrary physical signal and in particular a speech signal.

[0052] Lastly and as already discussed above, the invention is not restricted to spectrally reconstructing an original, pre-extant signal but may be applied in general to spectral signal enhancement. 

1. A method for enhancing a signal's spectral content, where this signal comprises an incomplete spectrum which does include a first spectral frequency band, said method comprising the following steps: at least one transposition of the spectral content of said first frequency band into the second frequency band excluded from said spectrum for the purpose of generating a transposed-spectrum signal of which the spectrum is restricted to said second spectral frequency band, shaping the spectrum of the transposed-spectrum signal to produce an enhanced-spectrum signal, combining the incomplete-spectrum signal with the enhancement signal in order to produce an enhanced-spectrum signal characterized in that the generation of the transposed spectrum signal includes a whitening step of said spectral content in a manner that the spectrum of the transposed spectrum signal is a whitened version of said spectral content.
 2. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the second spectral band is adjacent to the first.
 3. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the transposition of the spectral content includes spectrum translation.
 4. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the transposition of the spectral content also includes spectral inversion.
 5. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in one of claims 3 or 4, characterized in that spectrum translation is implemented by modulation.
 6. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the modulation is single sideband modulation.
 7. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that spectrum translation is carried out by filtering the incomplete-spectrum signal through a bank of analysis filters and by applying their outputs to translated orders of inputs of a bank of synthesis filters.
 8. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 4, characterized in that the spectral inversion and the translation of the spectrum are carried out by filtering the incomplete-spectrum signal through a bank of analysis is filters and by applying their outputs to inputs of inverted and translated orders of a bank of synthesis filters.
 9. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in one of the above claims, characterized in that the spectral content whitening is implemented by filtering the incomplete-spectrum signal through a whitening filter.
 10. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that the transfer function of the whitening filter is produced on the basis of information providing the spectral envelope of the incomplete-spectrum signal.
 11. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that the information providing the spectral envelope comprises LPC coefficients of the incomplete-spectrum signal.
 12. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in either of claims 10 and 11, characterized in that spectrum shaping is implemented by filtering the transposed-spectrum signal through a shaping filter.
 13. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that the transfer function of the shaping filter is produced by extrapolating the spectral envelope of the incomplete-spectrum signal.
 14. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 12, characterized in that the transfer function of the shaping filter is produced based on the information providing the spectral envelope of a complete-spectrum version of the incomplete-spectrum signal.
 15. Spectral content enhancement method as claimed in claim 14, characterized in that the transfer function of the whitening filter is adjusted as a function of said information providing the spectral envelope of the complete-spectrum version.
 16. A procedure to improve decoding an incomplete spectrum signal, in particular a limited frequency band audio signal, said incomplete spectrum signal having been produced encoding in spectrum limiting manner a wide frequency band source signal, for instance by perceptive encoding, characterized in that the improvement consists in enhancing the decoded signal by the spectral enhancement method of one of claims 1 through
 15. 17. Procedure to improve decoding an incomplete spectrum signal, in particular a limited frequency band audio signal, said incomplete spectrum signal having been produced by encoding in spectrum limiting manner a wide frequency band source signal, for instance by perceptive encoding, characterized in that the improvement consists in enhancing the decoded signal by means of the spectral enhancement method claimed in claim 12 or 13 and in that the information concerning the spectral envelope of the incomplete spectrum signal is produced by the encoding stage.
 18. Procedure to improve decoding an incomplete spectrum signal, in particular of a limited frequency band audio signal, the incomplete spectrum signal having been produced by encoding in spectrum limiting manner a wide frequency band source signal, characterized in that because the encoding provides information concerning the spectral envelope of tile wide frequency band source signal, the improvement consists in enhancing the decoded signal by the spectral enhancement method defined in claim 14 or 15, the complete spectrum version of the incomplete spectrum signal being the wide frequency band source signal.
 19. Apparatus enhancing the spectral content of a signal having an incomplete spectrum including a first spectral frequency band, characterized in that it is designed to implement the stages of the method defined in one of claims 1 through
 15. 20. Apparatus additional to a signal decoder, this signal to be decoded being emitted from a frequency band limiting encoder, for instance a perceptive audio encoder, characterized in that this additional apparatus is designed to carry out the stages of the procedure of claim
 16. 21. Receiving apparatus comprising a decoder for a signal encoded by a frequency band limiting encoder, for instance a perceptive audio encoder, and further comprising an additional apparatus designed to carry out the stages of the procedure claimed in claim 16 or
 17. 22. An encoding/decoding apparatus comprising a frequency band limiting encoder, for instance a perceptive encoder, receiving a source signal and producing an encoded signal, a spectrum estimating device providing spectral envelope information for the full frequency band source signal, further comprising a decoder for the encoded signal and an additional apparatus designed to implement the stages of the procedure defined in claim
 18. 